11Synonyms found for migration

Word Origin & History

migration 1610s, of persons, 1640s of animals, from L. migrationem (nom. migratio), from pp. stem of migrare "to move from one place to another," probably originally *migwros, from PIE *meigw- (cf. Gk. ameibein "to change"), from base *mei- "to change, go, move" (see mutable). That European birds migrate across the seas or to Asia was understood in the Middle Ages, but subsequently forgotten. Dr. Johnson held that swallows slept all winter in the beds of rivers, while the naturalist Morton (1703) stated that they migrated to the moon.